The celebration of the thousandth anniversary of the Pécs diocese is not an every-day affair, even on a European scale, said Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna Christoph Schönborn, who was the pope's extraordinary envoy at the mass. The diocese survived the dramas of history, flourishing sometimes and suffering other times, such as during the 150-year Turkish occupation and the 40 years of communist dictatorship, he said.
Cardinal Schönborn suggested God might be preparing the church and believers for something new in the ongoing secularization seen in Hungary and Europe, and he reminded the Christians at the mass of their commission.
"Take to the path again, and do not be afraid, because secularized society is full of the desire for meaning and happiness, and that is what it seeks. Meekly, with Christ-seeking love, go to those who do not yet have the gospel, or to those who do not know it," he said.
Schönborn acknowledged the place given to religious culture and religious heritage by the organisers of the Pécs2010 European Capital of Culture programme.
Several thousand believers celebrated the mass on Pécs's Dom Square. Among the official guests were House Speaker Katalin Szili, former President of the Republic Ferenc Mádl, Chairman of the State Audit Agency Árpád Kovács and State Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Culture Ferenc Csák. The pope's envoy delivered a greeting from Pope Benedek XVI to Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Primate of Hungary, Péter Erdő, and to Bishop of Pécs Mihály Mayer.
The mass was the highlight of a celebration that lasted for several days. On August 21, the play The Good Pastor, a commemoration of János Brenner, a martyr from the crackdown on the church after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, was performed in the Pécs basilica. On the following day, Debrecen's Csokonai Theatre, the Harmadik Theatre of Pécs and the Gyula Illyés Hungarian National Theatre of Uzhgorod, Ukraine, performed T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral.
The diocese of Pécs was established by Saint Stephen, King and Confessor, on August 23, 1009. It is the only diocese in Hungary of which the exact date of establishment is known.
Photo: MTI
